Verizon Wireless and Cox Communications Inc. have launched mobile/cable service bundles in parts of Kansas, Arkansas and Nebraska about five months after the companies connected in Tulsa and Oklahoma City, Okla.

Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC), meanwhile, has introduced a similar bundle with the mobile carrier in Hawaii -- specifically Oahu, Kauai and the Big Island.

Cox and Verizon Wireless are sweetening things by offering prepaid Visa debit cards valued at between $100 to $400 to customers who sign up for the cable/mobile service bundles. TW Cable has a similar offer, with cards valued up to $200.

Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK), another Verizon Wireless partner, has been trying a range of sign-up incentives, including a year of free access to AnyPlay, a video transcoding device that lets customers watch Comcast's linear TV lineup on tablets that are within reach of the home Wi-Fi signal. (See Comcast Uses TV Streamer to Pump Mobile Bundles.)

Why this matters
It's another move forward for a wired/wireless partnership involving Verizon Wireless, Cox, Comcast, TW Cable and Bright House Networks . The launches also come about six weeks after Verizon Wireless obtained government approval to purchase advanced wireless services (AWS) spectrum from those operators for about $4 billion.

In addition to Hawaii, TW Cable has hooked up with Verizon Wireless in the Midwest (Ohio and Wisconsin), the Carolinas, Maine, Nebraska and Kansas City. Comcast has mobile bundles up and running in more than 30 markets, including Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Indianapolis, Miami and Seattle. Bright House Networks and Verizon Wireless have yet to kick off their mobile/cable service bundles.

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— Jeff Baumgartner, Site Editor, Light Reading Cable